Srinagar, March 4: The Jammu & Kashmir administration on Wednesday announced that the status quo in internet services would remain in effect till March 17. Amid concerns raised by business groups and educational institutes over the curbs on broadband internet, the government of Union Territory said the services would not be upgraded for at least the next two weeks. The block of internet on unverified prepaid SIM cards would also continue to prevail. J&K: 157 Terrorists Killed, 138 Infiltration Cases in Year 2019, Says MoS Defence Shripad Naik in Parliament.

"Internet access across the Union Territory with internet speed restricted to 2G only and internet connectivity with Mac-binding to continue till 17th March, 2020. The directions to remain in force unless modified earlier, said the statement issued by the Government of Jammu & Kashmir.

"While the post paid sim card holders shall continue to be provided access to the internet, these services shall not be made available on pre-paid sim cards unless verified as per norms applicable for postpaid connections," the statement further added.

Internet services in Jammu & Kashmir were partially restored on January 24, after over five months of outage. The connections were disabled on August 5, hours before the Narendra Modi government issued an executive order to abrogate Article 370, which accorded semi-autonomous status to the frontier state.

The ban of internet was necessitated to prevent the mobilisation of protesters, said the government. The lack of connection also prevent militant groups to coordinate in their efforts to create unrest or carry out insurgent activities. The locals, however, have complained against the inconvenience being faced by them due to the lack of broadband connections. Till January, the chamber of commerce had projected a cumulative loss of Rs 18,000 crores, along with five lakh job losses due to the blanket ban on internet.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 04, 2020 04:06 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).